NightSide News Update 4/22/25

It's Night's Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm telling you razy Boston's News Radio.

Thank you very much, Cherry, welcome everybody. Welcome on into a Tuesday evening edition of Night Sime from eight and to midnight right here on wb Z, Boston's News Radio. Sherry, great job is always. Thanks again. We will move right into our first hour. Remind you that back in the control room at the Broadcast Center, the broadcast headquarters, of course, is Rob Brooks, who is with us virtually every night

No, Actually, American Heritage Museum is open twelve months of the year.

WHOA, Okay, well there's something I didn't know, So okay, going on, all.

Right, Yeah, we're open twelve months of the year. Five days a week. We're just closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. A side of this week is at school vacation in a lot of vacation weeks, so we hope everyone will have a chance to come out. The museum itself is

So how big a property are we talking about? I must admit I've never ventured out there, although I'm familiar where Hudson is right, a little bit outside of Boston, kind of a little northeast of Worcester and whatever, maybe the little northwest of Boston. You're close to fort ninety five.

Right, Yeah, we are in the town of Stowe and the entrances in the town of Hudson. So actually the property spans two towns and it's one hundred and thirteen acres that allows us not only to have the sixty seven thousand square foot museum which highlights artifacts from World War Two to the present day. So we have a World War One trench experience where people go inside of and they can see the first American tank, the m nineteen seventeen, and going through the museum, you go through

Wow, this is interesting now, I know that. Do you do school tours and stuff like that as well, or it is your clientele primarily moms and dads and kids or teenagers or adults. Who's your clientele?

The clientele is everybody. Yes, it is a lot of families that are coming through the museum, and that is so important this time of the year. It's a lot of school groups and you know we have school vacation right now, so families are coming through. But also we have our New Hampshire schools that are coming through the museum as well. So it draws from a very broad range of schools that come in to learn this history

All the way through.

We have two cells from the Hanoi Hilton, the prisoner of war camp during the Vietnam War, and everyone's going to recognize the name John McCain. He was one of those men who was in prison there when he was shot down during the Vietnam War. And there's only one other place in the world where you can right now see an original cell from the Hanoi Hilton, and that's in Hanoi. So this is amazing.

These are non replica cells. These are actual cells that American POWs were held in isolation, in many cases for several years.

Absolutely, these two cells are original cells from Wallow the prison, which we colloquially know is the Hanoi Hilton, that were disassembled back in the nineties and then brought to America and then it's more recently reassembled here.

I'm sure it's amazing the story of how this foundation, how all of these Uh I shouldn't say souvenirs, memorabile you, whatever you want to call whatever word would be appropriate. Uh, we're actually acquired. What a what a collection you have?

American Heritage Museum dot org is the website. We do have one of our first special events coming up for the year, which is on Memorial Day weekend, the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. It's the Tank Demonstration Weekend. So these vehicles are not just static. Will have a lot of vehicles outside in a special tank driving area, including the well known Sherman tank from World War Two, but a lot of other vehicles that will be on

Now that's a little bit beyond that. In order to drive or ride in one of those there there's an additional cost there. So want I don't want my list who's going up figuring that for the very reasonable admission price, they also can you engage.

In Yeah, that you are absolutely correct that that is definitely an additional item. But in this day and age, people really like that hands on it.

Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure, but I want to make sure that no one goes up there and is disappointed. For me, I'm very happy just to just to observe. I know what those what those tags look like, and I've seen them. I spent I spent a few years in the military. Never have been in any danger, trust me on that, but I see a lot of it.

Okay, Dan, wonderful being on.

Thank you so much.

Very welcome, Ron, thank you so much. We're going to take a quick break here as we get ready for our next guest, who is really going to be an interesting guest. His name is John Wilson. He was indicted in the Varsity Blues College admission scandal, and he was his conviction was overturned and he is now suing USC and Netflix over the coverage and the fallout of the Varsity Blue scandal. We'll talk to John Wilson. I believe he's a Massachusetts resident if I'm not mistaken, So again

It's Nightside with Dan Ray on wbzs Boston's news radio.

Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome an extraordinary guest, John Wilson. Wilson, Welcome to Nightside. You have done what very few people have been able to do, and that is successfully appeal an indictment and a conviction in federal court. So congratulations on clearing your name. People might remember your name from the so called Varsity's the Varsity Blues college

Yeah, so thanks for being here. It's literally been a daily nightmare for over six years for my entire family. This case not only affected me, but my wife who had to watch our children every day suffer and literally I had to watch her cry herself to sleep almost every night. And our children were attacked not by schoolyard bullies, but by federal prosecutors who falsely smeared them as being unqualified.

So the indictment came down in what year?

I came down in twenty nineteen, so just over sixteen.

That's six years ago. And the trial was held in federal court here in Boston, one of a series of trials. Frankly, and I must tell you, as a lawyer, I know how difficult it is to be in federal court on the defended side of the bar, because the Feds have a very high success rate. Who was the the US attorney that brought the case, and it was who was in charge of the office that brought the case at that time.

When it was first brought. It was Andrew Lelling. He was the lead US attorney in Boston. And it is a dramatic experience. The federal government has a success rate. They have a conviction rate of ninety nine point six percent. And so when you're taking on the federal government, those are the odds that the lawyers. My lawyers told me, and it was a very difficult decision. They said, the government has a ninety nine point six percent conviction rate.

But you did fight them. You were convicted, but it was overturned on appeal.

Right, our case was fundamentally different than every other case, every other parent here. So to put this in perspective, Singer had three thousand parent clients. Right, Singer was the ringleaders.

This was the guy that's the singer when you say singer of just in my audience recalls who claimed an ability to get pique people into school by hooka, by craft, It's really good colleges by hooka by krunk. Correct.

Yes, he was the ring, ring leader and central com man in this figure. But again to put in perspective, he had three thousand clients, only thirty two were charged. He had what they called dark side accounts and wholesome accounts. His dark side accounts were only one percent of his clients. Ninety nine percent of his accounts were never charged. They were wholesome parents like me that didn't do anything wrong. So what happened is these thirty parents were all convicted.

And yet you were sort of the fish that was sneered in the net. I guess would be the way, unfortunately, to describe it.

I think it was worse than that. I think they actually purposely went after us because of Singer's three thousand clients, there was only one in Massachusetts. So the Massachusetts prosecutors, the federal prosecutors base in Massachusetts, they first uncovered this case from a tip, a random, unrelated tip from a person in Connecticut on a separate crime. They quickly started pulling on that thread, they found Hollywood celebrities and other

Did anybody move change of venue since the majority of the defenders, I guess we're California based or West Coast base. It makes all the sense in the world that that case should be tried in California, and you would have had to go back, and you know, you have had the inconvenience having to go to California for your case, But it seems to me unfair and inappropriate that all of those other people had to had their case tried here as well.

Yeah, it was challenged multiple times and the end it ended up being two hundred and fifty people who had to fly back and forth. When you include the witnesses, the defendants, and the lawyers and the FBI between California and Boston. Two undred and fifty flew back and forth. And I was the only one parent in masses. It's so I was driving to the courtroom. It would have been much easier for me to fly to California if that was really what they wanted to do, but that

And these are the most part we're college we're West Coast colleges too, USC most of so the good right, So the good news is that this unjust conviction of you and your family overturned. But then I guess there was a Netflix story which incorporated you and did not appropriately characterize what was the final result in you. Okay, so you're suing Netflix in USC. You've also written a book, and I hope that some of our listeners will purchase

Is it a vailable It just comes out today. It's out today on Amazon and all the other websites. It's called Varsity Blues, the Scandal within the Scandal, and all the proceeds in the book go to three charities. It's not about making money. This is about clearing the record and clearing our name and getting the truth out there. And so one of the things that made us very different than the other parents was our children were all qualified. My twin daughter's got a perfect score and a nine

Well, hopefully they will. They will pay the piper. John. We've run out of time here, but I got to tell you the integrity in your voice, you hear it in your voice. Congratulations, and I wish you continued success, and I hope that you get your day in court against Netflix, uh and uh, and whoever whoever defamed you and your family pays the price. And obviously Netflix at this point I think is going to be called, be called in front of the bar of justice. Ironically. Thank

Out to today today, Just come.

My Varsity Blues Scandal within a scandal, Netflix everywhere rather Amazon dot Com everywhere, And I know I'm gonna try to get a copy because I want to. I followed those cases, but I did not follow them as closely as I would have liked. That was in my role as a talk show host, not as a TV reporter. If I'd been a TV reporter, I probably would have been in court there every day watching the case unfold. Congratulations to you and your family.

Thank you very much, appreciate it.

You're very welcome. All Right, we're gonna take a break new that's a great interesting story. I mean to actually win even on appeal in federal court. That's a hill to climb. Back on Nights side with two more great guests and two more great topics, and then we'll get to the phone call portion of the program, and we're going to start off talking about the Karen retrial, which restarted today.

With Dan Ray.

I'm Boston's News Radio.

All right, thank you very much. Let's get to our next guest, John Schultz. He's a technology in an AI artificial intelligent expert. He's founder and CEO of a website called easy Locator, and he's going to talk to us about jen Z graduates. So these would be people who have really just graduated from college. They would be in sort of the twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven range. People who were born after two thousand and twelve. No, I may be wrong on

I am wonderful tonight. How about yourself?

I get my gen Z, my millennials, my boomers, my gen X, sometimes my gen y sometimes mixed up. These are the people who were born from ninety six to twenty twelve. So a lot of them are still in junior high school, but some some are on the older end of the spectrum here, could have actually graduated from a two year or a four year for that matter, even done some graduate degree work. And they feel, or some of them say, their college degrees were a waste

Well, I think what they're doing is they're looking at their predecessors.

And you know, one of the things that you know, I look at, and I look at from an education perspective, there's some fault within the education system, you know, especially in the college ranks, that I don't think really adequately prepare people for the fast pace of the business world.

Technology in the nineties.

You know, it was really kind of when it started to take off tremendously, when the Internet was starting to roll out and things.

Of that nature.

Information with really going at light speed. And what I see, and I even saw that with my own educational you know, I've got a Bachelor of Science and mechanical engineering, and I look back and I say, you know, I have never ever designed an air conditioner I've never ever built a bridge, and here I am in the midst of the technology boom that wasn't even talked about when I

You know. I view that the education.

Market has a credentialing issue. You know, if you look at you know, universities and colleges, it's all about basically, you know, credentially, you know, it's all about ten years. It's all about that, and it's not really reacting to the marketplace, you know, so you see that kind of lagging. Now there is going to some requirements for credentially, you know, I think, you know, medical doctors is one maybe the legal profession of things of that nature. But there's so

Trying to promote is make sure trying to promote.

Is you know, we don't have enough skilled people in the workforce. And I can use you know, any kind of skilled trade out there. Electrician, be it an HVAC, person of learning air conditioning, being a plumber. The technology is being introduced into those trades at lightning speed, and so a person that adapts to that and opens their eyes and basically is willing to learn, then they're going

I would actually say, what do you want to do in life? What do you know? How do you view success?

And get those kinds of thought provoking questions out there and start focusing on the critical thinking, which I think is very, very important for everybody to do.

Yeah, I think we have undervalued you know what we used to call trade schools of voke at schools or kids at the age of you know, boys and girls thirteen fourteen, fifteen are introduced to you know, shop and people look the most successful people in the country. I think in the next you know, twenty years, in the next generation are going to be people who run their

I agree wholeheartedly, you know.

So you know, in my industry, I'm in the golf industry, and easy Locator provides a really a good function for the superintendent, help him find that optimum daily whole location and help enhance the health of his green, and most importantly, UH help the player have a tournament like experience every day.

One of the easy Locator could could show me where the ball is in the woods and the right of the woods in the left.

Well, I wish, I wish I could.

I wish we could locate it real easily.

But but what we can do is we can tell you where that hole is and where.

Except what I'm more than would have like fifty yards in the woods, sometimes the pit has disappeared. To be honest with you, Look, John, I appreciate your time tonight. How can folks get more information? Everybody likes to give a website? Or have you written a book on this subject? Tell us how how you came to stop by tonight? What can we do in turn for you?

Well, the easiest way is is to UH to check out our website. It's easylocator dot com.

Real simple as.

Isn't Edward zs and zabralocator dot com.

UH.

You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. All of those handles are basically easy Locator.

I wish I could say, I wrote a book.

But I've talked to several people and if I wrote that book, they put it in the fiction category because nobody would believe it. So I've led a very interesting life, and I to me, my advice to the young people is, you know, what you started out doing may not be what you're doing. You know, twenty or thirty years down the road. I started out in engineering. The Internet wasn't even invented yet. I now own a successful software company.

So you know, think about.

It and you adjusted it. And one of the things that I think young people should do is be on the lookout. Be aware that there will be some people along who are going to come into your life who are going to give you some good advice. There what I like to call them your mentors. Happens if you can look back on your life, I'm sure and find four or five people who gave you really critical advice. You have to keep your eyes open and in your ears open and think about other opportunities as well. Life

You bet my pleasure. Have a great evening. Thank you, right back at you.

Okay, you too. We came back on talk with criminal defense attorney Phil Tracy about the opening of Karen Reid's retrial started today.

You're on night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.

Well, Karen Reid retrial, it's underway today with all of the legal jockeying of the last few months, is uh, it began again today with us as criminal defense attorney Phil Tracy. Phil has handled many cases like that, Phil, Good evening, How are you, sir? Well let me let me play just a portion of the opening statement by Alan Jackson, Read's defense lawyer. And I don't know if how much of a time today between your own work you had a chance.

To wa Yeah, I've watched the cave.

Yeah yeah, okay. So there's a little bit of Alan Jackson. This is Karen Read's defense lawyer. Cut number twenty four A please, Rob.

So how did we end up here?

How'd Karen Reid end up sitting in that chair on trial for something, for an event that literally never happened. Well, the evidence is going to explain it, and it can be summed up in the following text message at the very beginning of this investigation, a text message of a now fired Massachusetts State Police officer.

Named Michael Proctor.

He was the lead investigator on this case, and he was talking about a fellow officer, a fellow cop who owned the property where John O'Keefe's body was found. Text message with a buddy question, is the homeowner going to catch any answer? Nope, he's a Boston cup too. That quote defines the lack of integrity of the Commonwealth's entire case, its entire investigation, and this prosecution.

I thought Jackson had a pretty good opening today. I was wondering what your thought was.

Well, I thought, in a case this long, and I'll cite the O. J. Simpson case for instance, a case that goes on this long, the opening is forgotten. The closing is more important. Now, if you have a two day trial, you know the opening is very important. But in this case, there's so much confusion, both inside and outside the court for about what's the proper way to proceed. What are the rules? And obviously, you know it's a circus atmosphere out there and inside the courtroom. The judge

Yeah, there was some discovery or some information about a couple of witnesses.

With the really spect of you. I don't know, it's not cronyism because they are claiming the police it's cronyism, but there's something Terribleutts, I'm sorry.

Well, I think she's accusing the defense and she's accused him before. Kind of gamesmanship, I think would be the proper term.

Yeah, and many.

Not going to be pleased with that, as you better.

As you know, they're not going to be you know. But I thought Brendan did a good job himself, so I think they sort of cancel each other out at that point. But I think the big thing from today is the picture of her played for the jury, and she does not seem to be in any way sorry about the death of this man who was her boyfriend. And you know, if I was on, if I wouldn't have let her talk, but they did. And now, of course they were under a gag order, so she's talking

No, no, I'm just saying you would think that that her lawyers would have cautioned her. Maybe they should have. Would have many lawyers would have said, uh, you're not doing interviews until this trial is over. But if she insisted, they should have had someone sit with her and prep her and all things like that to make sure that there wasn't something like this. And that is that's an area that the new prosecutor, Hank Brennan, is gonna.

Matter that wasn't there in the first trial. And I think that's that's a piece of evidence that's gonna gonna hurt her side. Now, whether it can overcome proof beyond a reasonable doubt and that in the bad behavior of all of the police involved in the case. Now you've got a real balance between proof beyond the reason that which is a very hard thing because it's not an absolute doubt, as as you already know, and it means it has to be enough doubt that you would raise

Well, it's gonna it's going to take a few weeks and eventually, hopefully there will be a verdict one way or the other. I am still amazed, Phil, and I'd love to you know, you've you've handled some high profile cases, and I realize all the arguments that are made, but I'm just stunned that this case is drawing so much attention, not just regionally.

But national news. David Muir on The News knocked about the impanelment.

There's a lot there's there's a lot of high profile cases. O. J. Simpson. I get, you know, actor, football star, Heisman Trophy winner, and I get, but boy, there's something about this and maybe we're too close to see it, but I couldn't imagine a case let us say out of Seattle or San Francisco, you know, or would be Galveston, Texas where there's another accident that they'd be struggling over. I don't know. Phil.